Skip to main content
Journal cover image

The impact of chronic blood-brain barrier breach on intracortical electrode function.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Saxena, T; Karumbaiah, L; Gaupp, EA; Patkar, R; Patil, K; Betancur, M; Stanley, GB; Bellamkonda, RV
Published in: Biomaterials
July 2013

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have allowed control of prosthetic limbs in paralyzed patients. Unfortunately, the electrodes of the BCI that interface with the brain only function for a short period of time before the signal quality on these electrodes becomes substantially diminished. To truly realize the potential of BCIs, it is imperative to have electrodes that function chronically. In order to elucidate the physiological determinants of a chronically functional neural interface, we studied the role of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in electrode function, because it is a key mediator of neuronal hemostasis. We monitored the status of the BBB and the consequences of BBB breach on electrode function using non-invasive imaging, electrophysiology, genomic, and histological analyses. Rats implanted with commercially available intracortical electrodes demonstrated an inverse correlation between electrode performance and BBB breach over a period of 16 weeks. Genomic analysis showed that chronically functional electrodes elicit an enhanced wound healing response. Conversely, in poorly functioning electrodes, chronic BBB breach led to local accumulation of neurotoxic factors and an influx of pro-inflammatory myeloid cells, which negatively affect neuronal health. These findings were further verified in a subset of electrodes with graded electrophysiological performance. In this study, we determine the mechanistic link between intracortical electrode function and failure. Our results indicate that BBB status is a critical physiological determinant of intracortical electrode function and can inform future electrode design and biochemical intervention strategies to enhance the functional longevity of BCIs.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Biomaterials

DOI

EISSN

1878-5905

ISSN

0142-9612

Publication Date

July 2013

Volume

34

Issue

20

Start / End Page

4703 / 4713

Related Subject Headings

  • Wound Healing
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Rats
  • Neuroglia
  • Nerve Degeneration
  • Myeloid Cells
  • Models, Neurological
  • Male
  • Immunohistochemistry
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Saxena, T., Karumbaiah, L., Gaupp, E. A., Patkar, R., Patil, K., Betancur, M., … Bellamkonda, R. V. (2013). The impact of chronic blood-brain barrier breach on intracortical electrode function. Biomaterials, 34(20), 4703–4713. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2013.03.007
Saxena, Tarun, Lohitash Karumbaiah, Eric A. Gaupp, Radhika Patkar, Ketki Patil, Martha Betancur, Garrett B. Stanley, and Ravi V. Bellamkonda. “The impact of chronic blood-brain barrier breach on intracortical electrode function.Biomaterials 34, no. 20 (July 2013): 4703–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2013.03.007.
Saxena T, Karumbaiah L, Gaupp EA, Patkar R, Patil K, Betancur M, et al. The impact of chronic blood-brain barrier breach on intracortical electrode function. Biomaterials. 2013 Jul;34(20):4703–13.
Saxena, Tarun, et al. “The impact of chronic blood-brain barrier breach on intracortical electrode function.Biomaterials, vol. 34, no. 20, July 2013, pp. 4703–13. Epmc, doi:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2013.03.007.
Saxena T, Karumbaiah L, Gaupp EA, Patkar R, Patil K, Betancur M, Stanley GB, Bellamkonda RV. The impact of chronic blood-brain barrier breach on intracortical electrode function. Biomaterials. 2013 Jul;34(20):4703–4713.
Journal cover image

Published In

Biomaterials

DOI

EISSN

1878-5905

ISSN

0142-9612

Publication Date

July 2013

Volume

34

Issue

20

Start / End Page

4703 / 4713

Related Subject Headings

  • Wound Healing
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Rats
  • Neuroglia
  • Nerve Degeneration
  • Myeloid Cells
  • Models, Neurological
  • Male
  • Immunohistochemistry